CHAPTER VI.
CRETE AND THE CRETANS.
No sooner were the ships safely settled in their moorings, than Himilco and I, who had both been up on watch throughout the last four nights, retired to take the rest that we so much needed, and, worn out by fatigue, I did not wake until the sun was high above the horizon.
The shore was still quite deserted; the steep rocky mountains appeared for the most part to rise perpendicularly from the sea; and the little valley of the river soon lost itself in a deep gorge, densely wooded with myrtles and holm-oaks.
My first care was to send a squad of sailors on shore to fill our barrels and goat-skins with a supply of fresh water; I next ordered a guard of soldiers and archers to be landed ready for any emergency; and then despatched Bichri, accompanied by half a score of bowmen, up the gorge to explore the mountains. There was abundance of wood about, and I determined to light some fires and cook our morning meal upon the strand. I likewise pitched a couple of tents, in which I laid out some of our merchandise, in case Bichri should fall in with any of the natives of the island. Jonah made himself especially prominent by his services on the occasion; he carried wood enough on his back to load three ordinary men, and lifted a barrel of water without any assistance, remarking that, if any one would give him wine in it to drink, he would lift a barrel twice the size.
About midday Bichri returned, tired with his wanderings, but well pleased with his morning's work. He had come across several of the natives on the mountains; they fled at his approach, but being an experienced mountaineer he had followed them from rock to rock, and had at length succeeded in capturing one of them. The others had pelted him with stones from a distance, but he had sustained no injury, and, in accordance with the orders I had given him, he had acted strictly on the defensive, and had not in any way returned their violence. The prisoner that he brought with him was a great strapping fellow, with a quantity of glossy black hair and a skin as brown as a Midianite's; his eyes were black and obliquely set; his face wide, with projecting cheek-bones, and a pointed chin. He had no other covering except the skin of a wild goat, which was thrown over his shoulders and fastened round his waist by a cord, and on his bare neck and arms were a necklace and bracelets made of shells. A hatchet with which he had defended himself had been wrested from him by Bichri; it was made of a highly polished stone of a greenish hue, and had a strong wooden handle.
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As soon as the barbarian was brought to me he began with many gesticulations to speak in a language of which I did not understand a word. I restored him his hatchet, made him a present of a piece of red cloth, and after showing him the goods in the tent, gave him his liberty. He bounded off towards the mountains and disappeared among the trees.